However, there is still a gulf separating the two countries. The US still prefers to keep China at arm's length. It exports its management mode and mature technology, while retaining its technology. What China requires in order to pursue sustainable development is for the US to transfer some of its core technology. Thus, inevitably, core technology transfer has become a bone of contention between the two countries.

Last year, Washington initiated a Section 301 Trade Act investigation into China's clean energy sector, following claims by the United Steelworkers Union in the US that policies adopted by China to stimulate and protect its clean energy industry are inconsistent with its World Trade Organization obligations.

In fact, this is just one of the recurring trade disputes between the two countries. To a degree the move is understandable.

In response, China should accelerate the legislative process to oversee the development of the new energy sector, make full use of its market potential and quickly upgrade the industry to the international level. It should also make greater efforts to strengthen its research and development, improve environmental protection and raise the safety standards of the industry.

Given their different stages of development, the trade disputes between China and the US are unavoidable and will remain so in the long run, but they should not allow such disputes to adversely affect cooperation between the two economies.

Both countries should deal with the trade disputes with patience and rationality, and solve their disagreements through dialogue and negotiation and within the framework of international rules and bilateral agreement.

After all, both have to conform to the world trend of cooperation and common development, and what they should bear in mind is that the fundamental aim of cooperation is to achieve win-win results.

The author is a professor with China Energy Economy Research Center of Xiamen University.